Foxhound Show
Morven Park: Hound Show In; Steeplechase Out
Morven Park and its lovely grounds in Leesburg, Virginia are familiar to many foxhunters. The former estate of the late Governor Westmoreland Davis has been home for many years to the Virginia Foxhound Show, meets of the Loudoun West Hunt, and the Morven Park Steeplechases. The mansion has recently been refurbished—a major project taking several years to complete—and Morven Park’s Board of Trustees are now grappling with formulating a vision for the future of the 1200-acre estate. A number of strategies have been identified with the goal of making it more accessible and relevant to a broader public. The expanded mission is expected to require significant fund raising to implement needed improvements, and decisions are being made as to which facilities and activities will survive and which will be discontinued. One casualty of the plan, according to Margaret Morton’s article in Leesburg Today, will be the Morven Park Steeplechase Races. The other equestrian facilities, however, will be improved for dressage, carriage driving, trail riding, eventing, show jumping, and therapeutic riding. “The annual Memorial Day weekend Virginia Foxhound Club show, the largest hound show in the world, will not be affected,” according to the article. Posted December 27, 2011
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Harry Worcester-Smith and the Westmeath Foxhounds
The Westmeath Foxhounds based in the midlands of Ireland was founded in 1854 and is one of the most popular
Grafton Staff in Ireland: Tom Jenner on Sir Ritchie, Harry Worcester-Smith on Success, Jackie Brown on The Cad
foxhunting packs in Ireland. They have had a distinguished succession of Joint-Masters over the years, but one of the most flamboyant arrived at the Irish kennels from the USA in 1912 with a retinue that caused quite a stir in the neighbourhood.
The new Master’s entourage included sixteen Thoroughbred horses, a pack of American hounds, five African-American grooms, a yellow open-top sports car, a yellow sulky, and three fighting cocks. His name was Harry Worcester-Smith, MFH of the Grafton Hounds in Massachusetts. He was even better known for the 1905 Great Foxhound Match in the Piedmont Valley with Mr. Alexander Henry Higginson’s English hounds, mainly of Fernie origin.
Farmington Hunt Puppy Show 2010
(L-R) Marksman and Marmite, best dog and best bitch
The annual Farmington Hunt Puppy Show was held at noon on Sunday, the first of many hot days of summer 2010, June 20th at the kennels. Pimm's Cup and other cool refreshments were served ringside by Forbes and Sherry Reback, and a post-show luncheon was served at the clubhouse by former club president B.J. Korol, with help from Kay Barquin, Shelly Thompson, and secretary and social co-chair Pattie Boden.
The hunt staff, Daron and Alison Beeney and kennelman Tom McCauley made sure the grounds were in beautiful shape for the event that welcomed a good crowd of members, visitors from out of town, and the Free Union neighborhood. Guest judges were Mrs. Phelps S. Hunter, ex-MFH of Los Altos Hounds (CA), and Martyn Blackmore, huntsman for the Loudoun West Hunt.
Puppy Show Runner-Up Takes All at Canadian Hound Show
Clasher and Clementine (foreground) with huntsman Antony Gaylard
The experts tell us that puppies can change from one week to the next. Not that Toronto and North York Clementine was ever an Ugly Duckling. But to go from Reserve Champion at the hunt’s puppy show on one weekend to Grand Champion of the Canadian Foxhound Show the next weekend is certainly a remarkable feat for any un-entered hound.
Melvin
The young lady was waiting in line—a long line, all the way outside the building—at the Virginia Foxhound Show when a soft-spoken, older man started a casual conversation. Where are you from? What hunt? Did you bring hounds to the show? How are they bred? What is your country like? He was interested in all she had to tell him about her hounds and her hunt. Then he strolled off.
"Do you know who you were talking to?" gushed a friend nearby.
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